Australian construction of submarines could be viable: Abbott

Former prime minister Tony Abbott has hinted that a local build for Australia's new submarine fleet could be viable.

In a 3700-word essay published in the Quadrant magazine over the weekend, Mr Abbott acknowledged that, while there was sense in a Japanese partnership, the priority was always the best possible submarine for the best possible price.

Submarine policy: Malcolm Turnbull and Tony Abbott.

His government initiated a competitive evaluation process.

The Japanese bid is facing competition from French and German firms.

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"As this process has unfolded, it's became apparent that overseas [shipyard] capacity restrictions could make a local build the most viable option after all," Mr Abbott wrote.

It's unclear when the Turnbull government will announce the winning tender.

He also defended his decision to cosy up to the former Sri Lankan president as part of his efforts to stop the flow of asylum seeker boats.

In the essay, Mr Abbott hailed his call not to join the "the human rights lobby against the tough but probably unavoidable actions taken to end one of the world's most vicious civil wars".

The United Nations has been pushing for an investigation into allegations that up to 40,000 ethnic Tamil civilians were killed by Sri Lankan government troops in the final months of fighting in the civil war, which ended in 2009.